


I Wanna Hold Your Hand

by neversaydie



Series: cock it and pull it [15]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Coming Out, Double Dating, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 20:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13959846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neversaydie/pseuds/neversaydie
Summary: "A double date, really?""Yeah, really," Sammy gets an affectionate look on his face at Jack's confusion, and Jack charitably holds back from smacking him on the arm. "Ben and Emily are going to dinner and a movie in Big Pine and asked if we wanted to go with… We do want to go, right?""Sure, I just..." Jack grabs the dish towel for want of something to fiddle with, half hoping he's not about to bring something up that Sammy hasn't realised and ruin it. "We've never been on a date before."[in which there's double date fluff, and Sammy dearly wishes Ben had never learned the word 'twink'.]





	I Wanna Hold Your Hand

"A double date, really?"

"Yeah, really," Sammy gets an affectionate look on his face at Jack's confusion, and Jack charitably holds back from smacking him on the arm. If only because his hands are covered in dish soap suds and he knows Sammy has a weird disgust for being sudsy - something about the oily film that he doesn't understand. "Ben and Emily are going to dinner and a movie in Big Pine and asked if we wanted to go with… We do want to go, right?"

"Sure, I just..." Jack grabs the dish towel for want of something to fiddle with, half hoping he's not about to bring something up that Sammy hasn't realised and ruin it. "We've never been on a date before."

"I know," Sammy sounds ashamed about it, but Jack lets it go because he's pretty sure he's never going to get his boyfriend to stop beating himself up at this point. "I told you I was gonna start making stuff up to you, y'know?"

"I know, babe. And I appreciate it. But if you're not ready for this kinda thing, then-"

"I'm ready for it," Sammy laughs a little at the look on Jack's face (which he likes to call 'Grumpy Cat Lite'... but only when they're not in public), and gets up from the table to back him up against the sink and kiss him, because he's still sometimes giddy with the fact he can. He smushes Jack's face playfully in his hands when he continues, all pressed up against him like the distracting bastard he is. "I've done a lot of… growing up in the time you weren't here. Seriously."

"You sure?" Jack slides his hands around Sammy's waist and hooks his thumbs in his jeans pockets, because sometimes he's still giddy with the fact he gets to touch his guy again too. "You don't have to push yourself for me, honestly. I'm just glad I'm here at-"

"Don't say it," Sammy physically shushes him and laughs when Jack nips the finger he's put to his lips. "It'll be fun, we should get out more."

"I don't exactly have anything to wear," Jack grumbles, a last line of defence against confronting the fact he doesn't know how he feels about this whole thing (and that he's still not convinced that Sammy won't get cold feet at the last minute), and gestures to the borrowed clothes he's still wearing. 

He hasn't fully gained his weight back yet - after the void left him emaciated and struggling with concepts like food and sleep and, well, generally existing - and doesn't see the point in buying much until he does, so Jack's been living in hand me downs. Currently he's in a pair of Ben's donated sweatpants (which are a little too short) and Sammy's college radio sweater (which he swims in, despite the fact they used to be a similar size), which isn't a combination that screams 'date night'.

"Then it's a good thing Emily wants to go shopping down in Big Pine on Wednesday and already asked if you wanted to tag along," Sammy tries to act casual as he says it… but since the only guy Jack knows with less chill is Ben, it's not a particularly good act.

"You… You planned this," Jack tries and fails not to grin disbelievingly as Sammy watches for his reaction. "You son of a bitch."

"It's a surprise!" He laughs when Jack does smack him then, not knowing how else to react to Sammy doing something sweet for a change. "Hey, I'm being romantic as hell!"

"You are, and it's weird," Jack feels kind of unsettled about it, all told, because he likes this new Sammy but he's very different to the guy he left behind in Los Angeles. It's not like he wakes up questioning if his boyfriend is real anymore, but the fear that he's missed something vital crops up now and then when he's confronted with the reality of Sammy as he is now. 

Sammy and being open about their relationship are still polar opposites, in Jack's head, and a date, in public, with another couple… is about as far removed from their old lives as it's possible to get. The excitement in his stomach is mixed with trepidation, but Jack smiles through it regardless. 

If Sammy's trying, he can try too.

 

 

 

The date, as it turns out, goes better than Jack could ever have expected. 

The movie is okay (Jack still can't believe they've made more Star Wars films - he's seen the first one on Netflix, but it all feels a bit like a fever dream), and Sammy squeezes his thigh through the action scenes while Ben and Emily obnoxiously make out at the end of the row. Ben tries to defend himself against the mocking in the lobby after by claiming it's the third time they've seen 'The Last Jedi' so they didn't need to pay attention, but all that does is inspire a one-upmanship to prove who's the biggest nerd... which is much funnier than it should be while they're all stone cold sober. 

("I guess you remember the original trilogy in theatres. You must've been, like, mid twenties?" Ben remarks all too casually, just when they think the argument is winding down, and then sprints away when Sammy starts chasing him across the parking lot. Jack and Emily exchange a look and follow at an entirely more reasonable pace.)

They end up in a cosy little diner a few blocks away, which is ambiguously Elvis-themed and too clean to be anywhere near vintage. Jack wonders at how different the town seems from King Falls - where every person and business seems to have been part of the fabric of the town forever, even if they're brand new - and picks at his fries while the conversation washes over him pleasantly. He still finds movies and TV kind of overstimulating (after the lost time of nothingness he tries not to think about), and his friends let him process without a fuss. 

Sammy has his arm slung over the back of the booth - not touching Jack's shoulders but definitely more than a friendly gesture - and Jack's still not sure what to make of that.

He comes back into the conversation by degrees, and soon he and Ben are trading college horror stories while Emily and Sammy listen with affection and exasperation by turns. At least, until Jack dares to besmirch Sammy's honour, and he jumps in to defend himself. 

"I wasn't a twink."

"You were a twink when I met you."

"I was never a twink!" 

"We were all twinks once, Sammy," Ben nods, way too pleased with himself and entirely too thoughtful about this whole 'twink' situation, especially considering he's only just learned what the word means… and from one of Jack's less-than-polite anecdotes from freshman year, no less. 

"You're still a twink, dude," Jack manages to eat a fry smugly - Sammy didn't know that was even possible - as Ben makes an offended noise and Emily hides a grin behind her hand. "Sammy would be..."

He leans back and exaggeratedly looks Sammy up and down where he's sitting next to him in the booth. Sammy rolls his eyes and makes a kissy face for a split second, cracking his boyfriend's composure with surprise. Jack has missed this - missed  _people_ \- so much, and the fact that he can sit here next to Sammy and not have to hide...

It's a lot. It's everything. He doesn't know how he feels about King Falls yet, but they could never have had this in Seattle or LA, not with the way things were.

"A bear?" Emily suggests, and it's Sammy's turn to be offended when that makes Ben - Ben of all people - laugh. 

"Nah, he's not a bear. Now, Ron Begley,  _that's_ a bear," Jack sits back again and looks wistfully at the ceiling, contemplating the true, thick bear-ness of Ron, and although Sammy should be offended... he can't really blame him. "No, Sammy - and I'm about to traumatise you all so brace yourselves - is  _daddy_."

Ben spits out his coke, while Emily just shakes her head with amusement like she's heard this at least once already. Sammy briefly considers building himself a fort of solitude behind a stack of menus and waiting the rest of the date out. 

"I knew you were the dad friend Sammy, but-" Ben is still laughing, the bastard.

"No. I'm gonna pretend this didn't happen," Sammy scrubs a hand over his face - intentionally over-acting the offence - before straightening up with his best 'moving on to the next segment' voice. "Anyway. The weather. We've had some weather lately."

"Cloudy with a chance of dick," Jack mutters, which completely ruins any composure Ben and Emily have managed to regain following the revelation that Sammy's dad qualities extend far beyond his friend-babysitting tendencies. Sammy actually laughs too, albeit more subdued, and Jack glances at him sideways with the lingering anxiety that he might have done something wrong, might have pushed it too far and said something in public that embarrassed them or-

Sammy's smile is genuine, if exasperated. He's really okay with this. With Jack. With himself. With  _them_.

Jack still doesn't quite believe it, but when Sammy holds his hand on the way back to the car (casually, like he's not thinking about it too hard, like he's not freaking out about what people will think) something settles in his chest that's been out of place for so long he'd forgotten what it was supposed to feel like. 

Living honestly, huh. Maybe he could get used to King Falls after all.


End file.
